Hi everyone,

I was inspired by Keramz' [Grey Market Assistance] post and figured I'd also pitch in to help. I have approximately 50 verified trades on the Grey Market (mostly selling, some buying) and also a dozen or so sales through Ebay. I was fortunate enough to downsize a sizable portion of my fleet back in 2015 when it was still mostly a sellers' market (and also helped my organization mates do the same); however, I recently came back to the game after a 4 year hiatus and decided to downsize a bit more. This time around it was much tougher to sell and I had to invest a considerable amount of time learning the new rules of the market. It is now a very saturated buyers' market with a lot of downside pressure, so every % counts.

First, please first read my guide below as most accounts/hangars are pretty straightforward if your ships don't have LTI.

(READ FIRST) Secondary Market Guide / Tips:

• Unless you own LTI ships or special packages, your ships are most likely only worth their Store Credit aka "RSI Melt" value after a applying conversion rate. Even though it makes practical sense that 5-year, 6-year, 10-year insurance are basically the same as LTI, in this current market, only LTI receives a premium from prospective buyers.
• The current conversion of Store Credit aka "RSI Melt" is 65-75%. Buyers typically want a larger discount if you are selling large quantities.
• Due to the common practice purchasing LTI Tokens (cheap ships with LTI) and Warbond discounts, the premium on LTI has significantly decreased on most ships, where many LTI ships and packages are actually being sold for less than 100% of their RSI Melt value (85-99%). This is where I can help most with valuations, as there is a lot of variability here, and a few ships may even sell more above their melt value.
• Unless your ships are giftable, there is an added selling cost for RSI Melt. You will need to pay cash for a cheap stand-alone ship (Aurora ES for example, is $20), and then use your RSI Melt to upgrade the ship to a higher value ship (for example, to a Constellation Aquila, with an upgrade cost of $290). In this particular example, you have to pay $20 to sell $290 of your store credit, and that is a cost you will need to consider. You can treat this as a variable % fee, in this example, the $20 is actually a 1.7-2.4% fee assuming you sell at 65-75%.
• Purchasing a cheap LTI Token with cash is one way you might increase your margin, since your conversation rate will increase due to LTI status for certain ships. Unfortunately, cheap LTI Tokens are difficult to come by and are only available during certain sales. For example, in the most recent sale, a Warbond Pisces LTI was $45, which could then be upgraded as high as a Hammerhead (upgrade cost of $680). Going this route does mean you may be waiting 3 months, 6 months, or potentially until the next CitizenCon sale. EDIT: Additionally, as BoredDellTechnician pointed out, buyers are beginning to shy away from CCU'd LTI ships, which means this strategy may no longer as effective in the future.
• Similarly, waiting for a sale of ship with a ship upgrade cost greater than $290 (Aquila is normally the highest cost ship in the store) may slightly improve your margins.
• Paypal Fees. Always send a detailed invoice and pay the transaction fee, it's for your own protection. That means 2.9% $0.30 for domestic sales and 3.9% $0.30 for international sales. This fee may vary by country, so do your research as well.
• Ebay Fees. If you decide to sell on Ebay, you will pay both Ebay fees AND Paypal fees. The standard rate for Ebay fees is 10% of your final sale value. This means you might pay as high as 13.9% $0.30 per sale. Occasionally, there are time-limited seller promotions that reduce your Ebay fees.
• Set your expectations before soliciting offers. If you are serious about downsizing or selling your account, you will most likely sell at a loss. Time, patience, and effort will be required to reduce that loss.

For anyone that still needs help valuing or pricing their account / ships, feel free to PM me.